Legislators sitting on the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) have learnt with shock that city lawyer Timothy Masembe and his firm MMAKS received payment in dollars despite an earlier warning from Secretary to the Treasury.
Keith Muhakanizi at the time of the payment had issued a letter to all accounting officers of government bodies cautioning them from paying contractors in foreign currencies.
Muhakanizi’s expressed worries that such actions would deplete the economy.
But on Wednesday as COSASE concluded probe on sale of 7 commercial banks by Bank of Uganda, the legislators found out that MMAKS received dollars although the firm had submitted invoices with local currency- UGX.
The lawmakers thus concluded that the actions of Central Bank administrators implied that they had no confidence in the shilling.
Masembe and his team received $230000 from Bank of Uganda to provide legal services during the liquidation of Crane Bank Limited.
Masembe who was summoned by the committee on Tuesday confirmed to have received that amount.
The MPs were again dismayed to learn that MMAKs was paid a total of shs 4.3 billion by BoU without any written documents.
The special audit commission my parliament found out that shs 270 billion BoU claims to have injected into Crane Bank as recapitalization was no where to be traced.
The Central Bank Executive Director in charge of supervision Tumubwine Twinemanzi admitted that the regulator followed no guidelines for the liquidity support extended to Crane Bank.
Crane Bank was controversially closed by Bank of Uganda in October 2016 and then handed over to DFCU in January 2017 on claims of gross insolvency.
However, the shareholders of the once largest commercial institution in the land contested the closure in courts of law.
